Newsroom // News Releases

November 22, 2004

Madison, WI—Sherron Watkins, the former vice
president of Enron, famous for blowing the
whistle on internal power abuses, is scheduled to
Keynote World Council of Credit Unions' World
Credit Union Conference in July of 2005. Watkins
will speak on the importance of governance and
the role of ethics in business.

Watkins is the winner of numerous awards,
including TIME Magazine's Person of the Year
Award in 2002, Court TV's Scales of Justice and
Everyday Hero's Awards. Since resigning from
Enron she has been lecturing throughout the
country about her experience and what she has
learned from it and testified before Congress on
the collapse.

Watkins began working for Enron in 1993,
initially managing its $1 billion-plus energy
portfolio. She later transferred to mergers and
acquisitions of energy assets, and then to the
company's broadband unit. She alerted then-CEO
Kenneth Lay about accounting irregularities in
August of 2001, leading to the exposure of
unethical behavior and the demise of the
corporation. She has since co-authored a book on
the topic, entitled Power Failure: The Inside
Story of the Collapse of Enron.

According to Watkins, white-collar crime
involves
three factors: "extreme pressure to meet a goal...
the opportunity to cheat [and] the
rationalization that it's not cheating." She
will expound upon these factors and discuss
governance in her keynote address at the
International Credit Union Conference next
year.

Watkins is one of many bright, distinguished
leaders in the financial service industry who
will set the tone for WOCCU's new World Credit
Union Conference. With the recent addition
of "Good Governance" to WOCCU's list of missions,
Watkins is a pertinent choice for keynote
speaker. The World Council will also present
International Credit Union Governance Principles
to its General Assembly for adoption in Rome.

The 2005 Conference marks a turning point in
WOCCU's history, as it will be the first time its
International Credit Union Leadership Institute
and International Credit Union Forum are combined
into one meeting. WOCCU has high hopes for the
first World Credit Union Conference, which will
be held in Rome, Italy. At last summer's
Leadership Institute, attendance topped 1,000.
WOCCU anticipates the return of many of these
attendees in 2005, as well as the presence of the
dedicated professionals who regularly attended
its Forums; the new Conference will be the
preeminent gathering of credit union leaders
worldwide. The 2005 meeting will feature 20
breakout sessions with four different tracks
including: strategy, finance and operations,
human resources and marketing and developing
movement initiatives.

For more information on the World Credit Union
Conference, please visit the WOCCU website at
www.woccu.org or contact the WOCCU meetings
department at emonroe@woccu.org or 608-231-8838.

World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 57,000 credit unions in 105 countries serve 217 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.